Telenet IdeaLabs and Bryo:
crowd entrepreneurship at its strongest

Tomorrow is Today

In addition to its own Innovation Centre, Deloitte also supports numerous other platforms for young entrepreneurs. Two of the most striking and successful initiatives are Telenet IdeaLabs and Bryo, Voka’s guidance and supervision programme. ”Initiatives such as these are needed to convince young people to step out of their comfort zone“, says Nikolaas Tahon, Managing Partner Accountancy at Deloitte.

“Encouraging a sense of entrepreneurship among young people is very important: we can only ensure the comfort of the next generation if we dare to step out of our comfort zone today.”

Nikolaas Tahon, Managing Partner Accountancy at Deloitte

All about start-ups

Start-ups have a major role to play at Deloitte. With its ‘Tomorrow is Today’ awareness campaign, the business consultancy aims to make organisations aware of the exponential growth of innovations. These innovations have a major impact on the economy and Deloitte has taken a deliberate decision to focus on these developments: for anyone who is already busy dealing with the future today, there are opportunities out there for the taking. ”The future is all about start-ups,“ is the word at Deloitte. ”If we want to stimulate the new, then we have to be by their side from the outset.”

Voka Bryo

”Over the past five years we have seen increasing numbers of platforms emerge in Belgium, bringing these young people with ideas together and encouraging entrepreneurship,“ says Tahon. ”A new dynamic has been created, partly by these initiatives. Young people again have a ‘taste’ for entrepreneurship.“ One of these initiatives is Bryo, a project by the enterprise association, Voka. Bryo – which stands for ‘Bright&Young!’ – aims to shorten the step to running your own business by providing guidance to and supervision of young start-ups for two years. Central to Bryo are the so-called ‘dates’, which involve regular encounters with other young entrepreneurial people from a particular region. Issues such as ‘where will I find funding for my business?’ or ‘how can I turn ideas into income?’ are discussed.

Bryo members not only learn from each other, but they are also given the opportunity to take part in workshops and come into contact with experienced entrepreneurs, financiers and possible suppliers. Once the process has been completed, Bryo members can present their ideas to an advisory panel. Deloitte was a partner of Bryo from the beginning and has seen the project grow over the years. ”Various ideas have already flourished to become successful businesses,“ says Tahon. Such as the tech company Gatewing, which makes drones, and has since been sold to the American company Trimble. Bike courier company Bubble Post, and the Planza planning app also took their first steps in Bryo.

Telenet IdeaLabs

Another successful initiative is the Antwerp-based company Telenet IdeaLabs. IdeaLabs was set up in the summer of 2012 by five young entrepreneurs. Deloitte came on board immediately and since last year Telenet also supports the initiative. The project works like this: young people with an idea can come and present their business plan in two rounds of pitches. The start-ups selected are then given the opportunity to join an intensive four-month bootcamp, during which they are supervised in developing a prototype of their product or service. They also receive a financial injection of €25,000, a space to work in, and the professional support of experts. Idealabs also includes a café where creatives can get together.

”The strength of the concept? It’s a place where young, entrepreneurial people can meet,“ says Tahon. ”They meet, encourage one another by sharing knowledge and that tends to lead to collaboration.“ Deloitte even has a name for this new enterprise culture: ‘crowd entrepreneurship’.

Dare to step outside the comfort zone

Why does Deloitte work so enthusiastically on these projects? ”We don’t get an immediate return from them, but they are certainly worth the investment over the long term,“ says Tahon. ”Our task is to work with them to create a strong business fabric and we are convinced that platforms such as Bryo and Idealabs make an active contribution to this. In fact, I would even go so far as to say that they are essential. The comfort zone in our society has become so big these days that we have to give people a nudge in the back to get them to take the step towards setting up their own business. And this sense of entrepreneurship is very important: we can only ensure the comfort of the next generation if we dare to step out of our comfort zone today.”

Authors

Managing Partner Deloitte Accountancy

Nikolaas Tahon combines accountancy, financial, tax and legal expertise to advise SMEs and family companies. In his role as sparring partner of business owners and their management, Nikolaas focuses o... More

Deloitte refers to one or more of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited, a UK private company limited by guarantee (“DTTL”), its network of member firms, and their related entities. DTTL and each of its member firms are legally separate and independent entities. DTTL (also referred to as “Deloitte Global”) does not provide services to clients. Please see www.deloitte.com/about to learn more about our global network of member firms.